World title not a burden for Lysacek

TORONTO - The rink is filled with skaters of all ages and abilities, so packed coaches occasionally must play traffic cop just to clear enough space for a run-through.

As Evan Lysacek begins his free skate, however, the other skaters stop and drift back to the boards. It's a new program with plenty of work still to be done, yet the entire rink is silent, mesmerized by his power and grace.

"People said to me that when they watched him in practice, they thought he was different. I was unaware of it because I watch him every day," longtime coach Frank Carroll said. "I said, 'How is he different?' They said he skates like a world champion now. He looks like he has that air and that confidence of a world champion."

Winning the world title the year before the Vancouver Olympics would seem to bring a crushing burden. Expectations, already high, climb a little further. Obligations, from the media to the federation to sponsors, pile up. Fellow skaters needing motivation focus on you.

If anything, though, the title has freed Lysacek, a true California kid (by way of Naperville).

"It could have made me feel like, 'OK, that's it, who cares what happens from now on,' " Lysacek said. "It had the opposite effect, and it sort of made me feel like anything is possible.

"I'm not going to expect anything, but I'm certainly not going to doubt that it could happen. I'm going to just go into the season and feel like I have an open book, and I'm going to write it as each day goes on."

Judging by last week's Rostelecom Cup, Lysacek's biggest competition here will be Evgeni Plushenko. In his first international competition since coming out of retirement, the Olympic champion routed a field that included three-time U.S. champ Johnny Weir and Takahiko Kozuka, silver medalist at the Grand Prix final.